new items in both Etsy stores

I wanted to let you all know I have new items in both my Etsy stores this week:

At Whimsy Lane Creations, I am adding new initial bottle cap and scrabble tile pendant necklaces. I also have a new Twilight saga necklace with charms to represent each of the four books' major highlights.

Over at my new shop, Sugar Sweet Bath Shoppe, I have added party favors and a wholesale lip balm listing.

Be sure to check it all out.

I ordered some Derma Doctor Picture Porefect from Sephora, which was a real splurge for me. So far though, i am not at all impressed. This product had rave reviews online but is doing very little in the way of either cleaning or shrinking my t-zone pores. Anyone out there using this and care to comment?

new Etsy store

I make way too many crafts! I am opening a second Etsy store called Sugar Sweet Bath Shoppe. I will eventually move all my bath and body products there, while keeping my "misc" crafts at Whimsy Lane Creations.

I hope to be moved into my new shop by April. I plan to eventaslly fill it with glycerin soaps, soy soaps, whipped bath butter and whipped foaming sugar scrub, lip balms, soap and balm party flavors/private labeling, and more.

Please visit me at either www.whimsylanecreations.etsy.com for kid's jewelry, Twilight products, scrapbooking supplies, painted items, etc.

or www.SugarSweetBathShoppe.etsy.com for bath and body treats.

new store on Etsy

Announcing my new Etsy store, Sugar Sweet Bath Shoppe. I have decided to move all my bath & body products to one store and keep Whimsy Lane Creations open for all my misc. crafting joy! It will take awhile to move things over but I think it will make it easier for customers to find what they are looking for rather than sifting through 90 very different, unrelated items.

My speciality will be scent-your-own products and bakery scents. You''ll begin to see items like Coconut Marshmallow Fluff Whipped Sugar Scrub, many new scents, and more soy products. I am hoping the whole shop will have a very girly, sweet look and my items should reflect that.

Keep in touch!
-Lynn

www.whimsylanecreations.etsy.com
www.SugarSweetBathShoppe.etsy.com....coming soon!

back to the drawing board

hmmm....I sit here today pondering two things: what to do (again) about those large pores and why my rebatched lye soap never comes out the way I want it to.

I am still using the olive oil cleanse with the combination pore scrubber at least 3-4 days a week. I am at a standstill with the shrinkage of my pores, but I still use the cleanse because I like th eway my face feels when I'm done and I like the way it seems to keep my oily spots cleaner, longer, under my makeup. I also feel good using natural products and am hoping that if nothing else, my skin will have less wrinkles as i age because of the olive oil cleanse.

As for the stand-still pores, I have my hands on a sample pack of DermaDoctor's Picture Porefect on Ebay. This stuff gets rave reviews but is pricey, so I am trying to win a little bit to try without killing the budget.

Now, onto my lye soap dilemna's. When I make my olive/coconut oil lye blender soap, it produces a lovely smooth, hard bar of soap with great lather. Problem there is that as the lye changes as the soap cures, it often ruins my beautiful creations, changing their colors, swirls, and even fading the yummy scents I added. So a few weeks ago when a friend ordered one of my lye soap logs so she could try the rebatching process, I decided to make myself a few extra logs to play with. I keep hearing that if you do a rebatch instead, your pretty colors and scents will stay true and you can add additives then without the worry of the lye altering them. Sounds great in theory. I knew from previous experience that rebatched soap is not as smooth and creamy (or pourable) like melt and pour soap, but I was determined to make mine become that way. I grated it, melted it, and this time not only added additional oils but also fresh coconut milk and regular milk. I then mixed it all with a hand-held mixer. It looked so good! I added my scent and whipped it more. Gone was the lump mashed potato lye soap I had always gotten and in its place with a whipped cream delight! I poured it into my log molds (old Velveeta cheese keeper lids) and even piled some on top for extra "pretties". I threw in a few colored sugar crystals just because I could. Then I waited for it to harden.

Next morning my soap had separated into a watery layer and a foaming layer. back to dumping and remixing with the blender. Again, it foamed up nicely and appeared like a thick meringue. I bet I whipped it on high speed for 5 minutes!

This time the top layer hardened but one week layer, the under layer was still mush.
Dumped it out again, reblended it, added more oils and coconut milk plus some vit. E for preserving it, gave it up and poured it into squeeze bottles for the shower and sink. Now it is an ugly gray-green, runny, creamy liquid soap. It smells great and works well, so I guess I accidentally made some sort of hand soap/bubble bath. Its not pretty but if it works, at least its not a complete waste of time and resources.

What I want to know is, does anyone have the key to making beautiful, SMOOTH and pourable, rebatched lye soap?
Throw me a bone people. If you blend it it makes it creamy but you must have extra oils or waters or milks to do so, thus making it impossible to harden. *sigh*

Still looking for answers!
Lynn

LUSH order

Well, its been about a month on my olive oil cleanse and I am not as excited as I was. My pores are most definitely at a stand-still, major. Not only that but mineral makeup brands really are vastly different. I had to buy some Maybelline mineral foundation and powder and I am back to the shiny nose after 1 hour. *sigh*

I continue on with the cleanse at least once daily though as I figure it'll ward off any more wrinkles.

Dear Sis has dropped out of the cleanse experiment as it is making her break out if she skips a day using it.

She is getting together a LUSH order with me and we will be trying the Coalface soap for large pores. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, check out my Etsy store as I venture into bottlecap jewelry and glass pendant necklaces; a change from my usual soap.

As soon as I get caught up on reading the 3rd and 4th books in the Twilight series, I hope to offer bath products and jewelry to match the main characters. We'll see how that goes! Always short on time I am.

Happy New Year,
Lynn

Olive oil cleanse update and whipped soap

Well, its week 3 of the olive oil cleanse I've been using to try to reduce large, clogged pores. I feel as though I am at a stand-still. The first week I was seeing a very noticeable difference. Happily, the pores beside my nose are completely clear and much smaller in appearance, but the pores in my t-zone seem to have stopped shrinking and lightening up. I am not sure if this area will just take longer to heal since it has been a problem area for so long or if this is truly the end of my success.

I do plan to keep using the cleanse anyway, as I love my softened, less oily skin, and the benefits of the healing tea tree oil I added to my cleanse. It dries up fever blisters overnight if left on them, and seems to clear blemishes faster as well. I have only had one blemish since using this cleanse daily, and it was small and healed quickly. Whether it is the olive oil, the tea tree oil, or the combination of both, I don't care; it's an inexpensive, healthy system and it works for me. I read online about another lady who used it for a year and it eventually cleared all her pores completely, so check back in one year I guess!

I tried some more whipped soap making this week. Its so easy to do. Take your melt and pour soap base. Melt it and pour into a large mixing bowl. Add a few teaspoons of water and begin to whip it on low speed using an electric mixer (remember, once the bowl and the mixer's beaters have been exposed to soap-making fragrance oils, its best not to use them in food products again; I have extra supplies such as bowls and spoons used only for soap-making). Whip the soap until it is the consistency of frosting, adding a bit more water if needed. I find this is the trickiest part as once whipped, the soap cools fast and then you have a firm lump of whipped soap in your bowl. If that happens, start again by re-melting the bowl of soap in the microwave and whipping it...again. I had to do this quite a few times to get the consistency thick and frothy but easy to work with. I made one batch in coconut cream and another in lemon pucker. I dyed the lemon batch yellow and then layered the frothy whipped soap into my trusty Velveeta cheese keeper's lid, spraying a light layer of rubbing alcohol between each layer as I went. This dissolves any bubbles that have formed and helps adhere the layers together.

I placed a layer of the white soap on top and then used a spoon to shape it into drifts and mounds as it firmed up. I also added real sugar sprinkles to the top of the loaf. Some soap artisans spoon their soap "frosting" into icing bags and pipe it onto their creations, just as you would ice a cupcake. I am not that fast, yet. :)

This morning I realized I should've sprayed my mold with a light layer of cooking oil. No matter what I did the loaf didn't want to release easily. I even put the mold in the fridge for about 30 minutes to no avail. The soap log was stuck in the corners of the mold. I finally forced it out, willing to lose the ends if I had to. I did lose the corners and ended up having to chop a slice off each end to make the log look uniform. Oh cruel world, how I surely hate to take an end slice to try for myself... the agony, the torture, of trying out a delicious bar of handmade soap....however shall I stand it? *swoon*

Anyhoo, the resulting soap was cut into 2- inch thick slices that float like Ivory soap, smell very strongly of lemon with a hint of coconut, and look like a pastel parfait or mousse dessert.

Have fun with your crafting, and let me see what YOU like to do in your spare time,
Lynn

beauty tip: olive oil facial cleanse

If you desire a beautiful complexion only to find yourself staring at skin with large, clogged pores, and nothing else has worked, try this easy facial cleanse that Mediterranean women have always used.

Buy yourself some virgin or extra virgin olive oil and some other "healthy" oil like coconut, Castor, jojoba, etc. Coconut is available at Walmart in the cooking aisle, and is very inexpensive.
Mix equal parts of your oils together (I saved mine in a little jar in the bathroom). If you like, you can add a drop of skin-safe fragrance or even essential oils, but that isn't necessary. If you choose to add essential oils, be careful to only add a drop to every 8 oz. cup of mixed oils or you could end up irritating your skin (I know; I tried lemon grass, and put about 3 drops....set my face AFLAME!). Keep in mind that if you add scent you might not be able to use this near the eye area (and it makes a wonderful eye makeup remover as well).

Once you get your oils mixed, twice a day you'll wash your face with this mixture rather than soap. Wash with oil? you're thinking. But I already have oily skin...I want my pores to be cleaner and lighter and smaller; I don't want to add another layer of grease to my already shiny t-zone. I know, I know, I thought the same thing. The ancient Greeks "washed" their bodies with oils and they were probably beautiful people. ;) Stay with me for a sec: just as there are oils/fats that are unhealthy and should be used sparingly, there are also "healthy" or "good"oils that are wonderful and beneficial for human consumption. Those same oils that are good for eating are also equally good for external body use. Our Lord blesses us with what we need!

So go ahead and try it: rub a layer of these wonderful oils all over your face, paying special attention to gently massage them in to any area with large pores, clogged pores, blackheads, etc. Let the oils sit on your face for at least 2 minutes. Then, put a washcloth in very hot water, wring it out, and place it on your face to "steam" your skin. Let the cloth stay on until it cools, then repeat; this time rubbing it on your face in circles as it cools, to gently remove the excess oils.
It may not be an instant improvement, but stick with it for a few weeks and come back to let me know your results.

I have a hereditary disposition to oily skin and large pores. After hitting puberty at a very early age, I was experiencing loads of breakouts in 6th grade. My mother let me wear some foundation/concealer to hide the blemishes, but the cosmetics were actually clogging my skin in the process. I also am very hot-natured (and sweating in the humid TN summers with makeup on doesn't help at all).

Now at age 34, I am left to deal with what the bad cosmetics and genetics have left me with: pitted skin and pores that appear large and dark. I have tried everything from Proactive to "aspirin masks" to every scrub and cleanser on the market. As a teen I steamed, picked, extracted, and did all those other no-no's you're not supposed to do to your skin. Recently I even bought the Clean and Clear Eraser and started using it. It made my skin soft but it didn't seem to help my pores at all. If not for my son's own breakouts and clogged pores, I would've thrown in the towel. But he too, is experiencing the curse of his mother's skin, and being a boy, probably doesn't wash his face like he ought to. At least I have makeup to hide behind, but I hate to see my son's beautiful baby face going down the tubes.

On night last week I was again searching for some medicine, some cleanser, some thing to make our skin clean and fresh-looking when I stumbled upon this olive oil cleanse. I was skeptical but thought since I already have those oils in my soap making cabinet, I'd try it anyway. What could it hurt? At worst, I'd have a layer of oil on my face that wouldn't help me. But it did and it's helping me! For the first time in years, after only a week of use, I can see my pores shrinking, lightening up, and looking cleaner. The oil doesn't cause me to break out or feel greasy. it washes off well and not only that, my face actually feels drier after having removed it. Strange, huh? I find I am going back and leaving a small amount on my skin all night to take away the dry feeling. And get this: that oily nose I used to wake up to is gone. This is amazing!!!

Since I paid a small fortune for the Clean and Clear eraser gadget, I am using both, even though it might not be necessary. I start now with a gentle exfoliation with my eraser and follow that with my olive oil cleanse. I am making my son do it morning and night as well, also starting with the eraser, and can't wait to see his results in a few weeks.

A few more tips for those with breakouts and clogged pores:

• If you MUST use soap on your face to feel clean, make sure it is real, hand-made, old-fashioned lye soap. It is said the the store bought soaps are made with detergents, not "real" soap, and have additives that can build up and make pores even more clogged over time. It doesn't hurt if the soap also has salt in it. My friend Vickie at Country Candles and Soaps makes a yummy clove mint salt spa bar and it was helping tame my breakouts long before I discovered this cleanse. If you go to see her online at her http://www.countrycandlesandsoaps.etsy.com/ store, check out her delicious and unique Bumblebee ballet salt soap as well (buy one for me too, and a matching soy candle to go with it), and tell her Lynn said hi!

• Switch to mineral makeup. Even though my pores didn't shrink when using it, my face felt less oily and cleaner, and now I won't go back to regular cosmetics.

• There are some nice maskes on the market. Queen Helene makes a lovely mint julep mask and a great (and fun to use) Grapeseed peel-off mask. I have to keep my kids out of it as they like to put it on and "peel their skin off" over and over.

• Crushed aspirin masks work well for temporarily shriking pores. But if you get the dust up your nose, you will have about an hour of nasal irritation. For those who wish to try it: crush one aspirin, add water to make a paste, rub it on large pores, let dry, and rinse off.

I know how it feels to have to hide behind makeup. I know how it feels to want to have nice skin that looks good up close, and how much you want to "wear it bare". I challenge you all to try this for say, 2 weeks, and come back and comment on how it is working/not working for your skin.

Lynn, the Whimsy Lane girl